Farmington Canal-New Haven and Northampton Canal

History

The New Haven and Northampton Canal was a major private canal built in the early 19th century to provide water transportation from New Haven into the interior of Connecticut and Massachusetts, ending in the Connecticut River at Northampton. Its Connecticut segment was known as the Farmington Canal and the Massachusetts segment the Hampshire and Hampden Canal.

Built in the decade after the opening of the original Erie Canal, the New Haven and Northampton Canal was one of the most significant civil engineering projects in the early 19th century United States and at 86 miles (138 km) New England's longest canal. The canal improved freight access for manufacturers and communities in the region during a critical period of the country's First Industrial Revolution. However, as a private venture it was a financial failure and only operated along its full extent from 1835 to 1847. With the advent of rail and steam locomotives, the canal company and right-of-way was quickly converted to a railroad, which was in more recent years converted to a rail trail. Few of the canal's original structures remain but short sections of canal bed and towpath survive as well as several locks.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. The official nomination form is linked under Sources.